


You Had to be the Hero

by DreamsAreHardWork



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments (Movies), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Caretaking, Demons, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Protectiveness, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 15:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18264161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamsAreHardWork/pseuds/DreamsAreHardWork
Summary: I’m not some damsel in distress. I would have dodged, you know I can. We practiced that move just last week. But oh no, you just had to be the hero.





	You Had to be the Hero

“Ow, careful!”

“Lay down and be still. We have to get the hairs out before the worst of the poison kicks in.” Despite his harsh words Alec’s hands were gentle as they helped to steady his parabatai.

Hissing under his breath Jace braced his hands on the white infirmary bed, slowly lowering to his stomach with Alec’s hands a warm and comforting weight on his hips. He cradled his head on his arms, turning so that he could watch his parabatai out of the corner of his eye. 

Alec reached down and pulled the short knife out of one of Jace’s thigh holsters. Flipping the pommel in his hand so that the blade faced towards himself he used the razor sharp edge to carefully cut the soaked black shirt from Jace’s torso.

“You shouldn’t have gotten in the way. I would have been fine.” Alec frowned as he took in the wide swath of Jace’s back that was peppered with the thick, razor sharp hairs of the Atahsaia. The creature had been huge, taking up the full width of the New York alley they had trapped it in and wielding a massive flint ax. They’d been doing well right up until Izzy’s heel had broken off in a grate and Alec had been distracted by her brief cry of surprise.

The Atahsaia had tried to take advantage of his distraction, swinging its club like arm that was covered in hair similar to the quills of porcupine straight at Alec’s head. Before the shadowhunter could react, a cry had rung out in the alley.

“Alec!”

The next thing he knew he had been pushed back against the brick wall of the alley and his arms were full of his parabatai who had jumped in front of the blow. 

Alec’s skin still crawled at the memory of the faint echo of dozens of hairs puncturing through the skin of Jace’s back. The pain had been enough to stun both of them, but Izzy had been back on her feet by then, and had been able to destroy the demon by ripping its head off with her whip.

Alec’s finger’s clenched at the memory, but he straightened up, moving over to shuffle through the drawers of the medical cabinet, looking for a pair of tweezers.   
Successful in his search he moved back to the bed. 

“Ready?” Alec questioned, placing a firm hand on the back of Jace’s neck to help hold him still.

Jace only hummed in response, brow already beginning to sweat from shock and the beginnings of the demon’s venom.

Taking a breath, Alec made for the first gray hair that was dug in just above Jace’s shoulder blade. With firm movements he took hold of it with the tweezers, and yanked it out in one firm movement. Both he and Jace sucked in sharp breaths at the resulting pain. Atahsaia hairs were barbed and coated in a poison that heightened the sensation of pain in the surrounding skin. It felt like what Alec expected having a fingernail pulled out would feel like. In other words not great.

But if left in the hairs would release more and more venom, causing festering wounds as they sank further into the victim’s body. They were designed for maximum damage and had to come out as soon as possible.

Firming his resolution Alec continued on. He removed hair after hair until he had a sizable, bloody pile lying on the bed. Throughout the entire process Jace hadn’t made a sound, but Alec could feel his pain and exhaustion along with a mounting fever through the bond. 

“Almost done.” He murmured, both to himself and to encourage Jace. It was only when he went to reach for his stele that he realized that his fingers were shaking, stained red and trembling from the strain. 

Clammy fingers wrapped around his right hand that held the stele, and Alec looked up to see his parabatai smiling reassuringly at him.

“It’s all right Alec. You did it.” 

Affection cutting through the panicked focus Alec allowed himself a small smile before leaning over and brushing a delicate kiss to the corner of his parabatai’s eye. 

He leaned back a bit, removing Jace’s hand from his own and gently tracing an Iratze across his forearm. As the magic rushed through his body the holes from the hairs closed up, leaving Jace’s back smooth and erasing the poison from his system. All that was left was a slightly elevated temperature that would be gone by morning, and the exhaustion from a tough battle.

“Let’s get to bed.”

Smirking Jace levered himself off the bed, muscles rippling intentionally as he quirked an smug eyebrow at Alec. “That’s sounds fantastic.”

Rolling his eyes as Jace managed to leer and then immediately stumble when he tried to stand up, Alec reached out, pulling one of Jace’s arms over his shoulder. “Don’t be absurd. You can barely stand, the last thing you should be doing is something strenuous.”

“Well I guess I’ll just have to let you do all of the work then,” leaning more heavily on Alec’s shoulder Jace shifted his head in, lips brushing the shell of his parabatai’s ear before he nipped gently at Alec’s earlobe.

A soft blush spread across Alec’s cheeks unbidden, but he leaned away with a glare, carefully guiding them through the door of the infirmary. “Or we could talk about how you needlessly risked yourself. I’m not some damsel in distress. I would have dodged, you know I can. We practiced that move just last week. But oh no, you just had to be the hero…”

Smiling to himself Jace relaxed, allowing his parabatai and boyfriend to guide him back to their bed, Alec’s worried tirade a comforting rhythm to his ears.

After all, the demon was dead, Alec was safe, and they would go into battle together again tomorrow.


End file.
